Bedtime Stories from Afar

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Veterans and Military Families

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We connect families through reading good books aloud on DVD, whether those families are divided by oceans and continents or simply by circumstance. United Through Reading helps parents separated from their children share the simple joys of reading aloud together.

Today, through our Military Program, Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and National Guardsmen can read from more than 250 recording locations worldwide including nearly every deployed US Navy ship, in 75 USOs, and from forward operating locations around the world, including 46 camps in Afghanistan.

Imagine a young Soldier in Afghanistan walking into a tent, dropping his gear, and picking up a copy of Green Eggs and Ham to read to his daughter at home. Imagine, back home in base housing, his wife and daughter sit down to watch Daddy read a bedtime story from the other side of the world. At that moment, Daddy is home.

Now, imagine that United Through Reading has served 1 million beneficiaries over the past 21 years.

Founded in 1989, United Through Reading helps reduce the fear, anxiety and uncertainty felt by children separated from their parents because of military deployment, incarceration, or in grandparents’ cases, living in different regions of the country. It was the nation’s first nonprofit to promote the read-aloud experience for separated families. Research shows that being read aloud to allows children to experience the joy of reading and gain critical learning and communications skills. More than one million parents, spouses and children have benefited from the nationally acclaimed United Through Reading programs.